Brined Turkey Breast

[es1025]

Time to venture into the other poultry item Turkey.

Found a 6 lb. fresh turkey breast (not frozen)

Here is my brine recipe:
.5 gallon of Apple Juice
1.5 gallon H2O
1TBS of Crushed Rosemary
1TBS of Thyme
1TBS of Old Bay seasoning
1 Cup of kosher salt.

Mixed it all up and put into the brining cube.

The plan is to smoke until 165 IT.

Is 3 oz too much wood?

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[Smokster]

Hey Ed, I smoked a 10 lbs whole turkey and used 3oz of wood chips and it was too much smoke, kind of ruined the final product.  Everyone's taste is different, but I would go with 1.5 - 2 oz at the most for your breast.  I believe there was a recent post and it was definitely less than 2 oz that was used for a whole bird.

Since turkey or chicken does not have a lot of flavour, I find that they tend to really pick up the smoke flavour with very little wood.  I included the path below for the post, sorry I couldn't copy the link.

All Things Smoked! » Model #1 » The Little Guy!! » Lil Butterball

[DivotMaker]

I'm sure you've seen this link, Ed, so this is for the other folks that haven't.

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1002.0

I think Mike (Pigsmoke) has a pretty good-looking setup here.  I bet your brine is good!  Let us know how it tastes!

[es1025]

Here is a picture of the brined turkey with a rub.

Used olive oil as the binder (did not have mayo)

Rub:
2 tsp of Black Pepper
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp old bay seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp of onion powder

Added 1.25 oz of cherry wood. Made into four smaller pieces.

Let bird rest for 30 minutes, IT was 55 when smoking started.

Added a little apple juice to water pan for moisture.

Temp at approx. 240. IT to 165 and then wrap for 1 hour.

Looking at 4.5 hours of smoking time. 

Fingers crossed.

[es1025]

3:30 minutes and we are at 165.

Resting for at least an hour.

Pics to follow:

[es1025]

ok, the verdict!

The birds was cooked perfectly at 165.  The only compliant was the brine was too salty, thus the bird was salty.  I will use 1/2 cup of salt going forward.  The meat was tender and juicy.  I look on the bright side its better to know you need to add less than more. Not sure if the water pan added any value.

I was pleased none the less.

[swthorpe]

I am planning to try a 7.5# turkey breast this weekend as a test run before T-Day.   I am surprised that 1 cup of kosher salt in 2 gallons of water would make the bird salty tasting...I usually use 1 cup of salt, but perhaps I should back that off for the test.  My question, though, is will the brine be effective with less salt?

[shomesmoke]

Steve,  I usually use 3/4 or a cup of kosher salt to a gallon of water. I think if you cut the salt to low you go from brining to just soaking and that doesnt pull in the flavors you are after. Rather than cut the salt I would try to shorten the brining time.

[swthorpe]

Thanks, Mark.  That was my thinking as well and it seems that the salt is what you really need for the brine.  While I still have a couple of days before pulling the trigger, I am think of doing a 3-4 hour brine with 1cup salt to 1 gallon of water, plus other herbs.

[es1025]

I had the bird in the brine overnight. I figure 3-4 hours should be spot on. Going to try again this weekend.

[swthorpe]

I am going to try 3-4 hours of brining.  I wonder if the sea salt in your rub might have affected the salty taste?

[es1025]

Steve, I read that sea salt won't impact taste.

[swthorpe]

Good to know, Ed.  I am brining the breast now (started at noon), and will be taking it out for the rub when I get home around 5.   So, we'll see how 5 hours works out, but I also noticed on the package that the turkey had been injected with something!?!

[es1025]

All
I have spend a lot of time researching brine time. For a turkey breast no more than 1 hour per pound. A good site for some insight is butterball.com or mortonsalt.com

[kujobie]

Maybe this goes without saying but most commercial turkey is already injected/brined when you buy it so brining it is a waste of time and will likely result in a salty finished product.  So, unless you shoot it yourself or buy a fresh, non-processed bird, I wouldn't recommend brining at all.  But if you do, don't do it for very long.